From a desk in Tallahassee topped by a lamp with the leering alligator head of his alma mater printed on its shade, Jay Schleuning works long hours to keep Florida Chamber of Commerce members informed and connected.
Schleuning, 37, only recently started his job as vice president of public relations at the Florida Chamber of Commerce.Yet, hes already leading the charge to revamp the way the organization communicates with its many members.
The Chamber has 139,000 grassroots members and represent three million jobs.
One of the things I love about working here is that I truly believe the Florida Chamberis going to be a major part of what we do to reshape Floridas economy, he said during a recent chat with Sunshine State News.
Schleuning comes to the job with the skills and knowledge of a professional intimate with the demands of businesses and consumers comfortable in the information age.
Originally from rural New York, Schleuning moved to Orlando with his family as a young man in 1991. He enrolled in the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida and graduated with a degree in telecommunications.
A long career as a reporter in the television news industry gave Schleuning the foundation of multimedia and communications skills he now puts to use to bring in his job at the Chamber. From the late 1990s to 2004, he worked as a reporter, bureau manager and producer at television news stations in Orlando, Tallahassee, Alabama, Indiana and Wisconsin.
After three years as communications director at the American Heart Association of Tallahassee and Central Florida, he started promoting the state as a tourism destination in 2007 for Visit Florida, the states official tourism marketing agency.
He came to the Chamber of Commerce in December, and he has spent his time analyzing and remodeling the organization's public relations department. Hes working to build up his staff to four members, including himself.
He has also revamped the Chambers Web site to offer daily video briefings on legislation of importance to businesses. Before he arrived, the Chamber only offered a weekly e-mail on legislation.
I want it to be much more competitive, he said. I think we live in a very fast-paced society now, and I think people want information quickly. And, to only do a weekly update would be a disservice to our members.
His next task is to see how the Chambers online network can be revamped.
Schleuning said the organization feels its important to diversify the states economic atmosphere and build upon Floridas strong reliance on tourism and agriculture at the same time.
We want to attract world-class talent, he said, speaking of a few of the six pillars the Chamber of Commerce is basing this years legislative agenda on. We want to make sure that we have an innovation economy, and thats part of building the infrastructure and also improving the business climate. And also improving the quality of life in general."
From the Sunshine State News electronic rolodex: Jay Schleuning, vice president of communications, Florida Chamber of Commerce, jschleuning@flchamber.com or (850) 521-1120.
